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December 5, 2017

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Where Am I Now

After retirement in 2002 in Salem Oregon, I backpacked many countries for 4 years; moved to Oaxaca Mexico June 2006. Regularly visit sons in Hong Kong, Thailand and Las Vegas. Completed a 6 month RTW to the U.S, Thailand, Oman and Turkey ending in Oaxaca in April 2013. Returned to OR, Thailand, Hong Kong and Las Vegas Nov 2013 to Mar 2014. October 2015 to Feb 2016 Las Vegas, OR, Hong Kong and Thailand. October 2016 attended marriage of son Joshua in Hong Kong. Month of Nov in Bangkok; Dec in Chiang Mai with son Doug. Jan 5, 2017 Salem OR with husband Bob returning Feb 4 to Oaxaca.

Articles Tagged ‘Travel Tips’

Down time is lovely…and necessary. Ensconsed in my Thai style guesthouse by the Ping Rver, I connected my little bluetooth speakers… listening to Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day” and of course Leonard Cohen who always puts me in a reflective mood.

There is a song…”you take the weather with you.” You are already “home.” The place doesn’t matter. You just have to put yourself somewhere. But I can’t imagine being in one place year round without getting out periodically and meeting strangers on the road who are on the same wavelength and who I’d never meet otherwise. Intimacy is anywhere there are people. And people tend to share more personal with people who they think they probably won’t see ever again. However I’ve had more than my share of serendipity coincidences meeting people again in another country.

Requires a little travel money. And mobility. With a little heart thrown in. But even in a wheelchair airports are manageable. Give a little tip to the employee who whisks you right through security and immigration and to the gate. And to the restroom or ATM and whatever else. Even to the next terminal. Even up to the plane in a hydaulic lift if you need it. Along with all the ancient and infirm Chinese ladies!

One of the most inspirational experiences I’ve ever had was meeting an 80 year old Russian Jew from NYC with a cane in the mountains of southern China visiting the Miao people who nearly fell getting out of the van. Said once a year he goes somewhere. I blessed his heart.

Trust is a double edged sword. It may slay us on the outside. But too much caution may slay us on the inside. Keeping our lens clear is how we know the difference between the two at any one moment. I think. For me, meditation is what clears my lens.

One of my favorite former Couchsurfers posted this reflective piece on Facebook this morning. It not only relates to reading between the lines of a Couchsurfng profile but the whole host/surfing experience…not only to pre and post hosting/surfing communication but in deciding who to vouch.

I think in the matter of trust it also illustrates that it is not only good for surfers to have hosted but that it is good for hosts to have traveled.

And I thought it worth sharing in the interest of knowing who to trust, especially when we are traveling solo, and in life generally.

I have been living in Oaxaca for the last 8 years. I now have a permanent resident card.
I still have a home in Oregon that is rented out to excellent renters for just enough money to cover the mortgage ... [Continue reading this entry]

A recent discussion in a group on Couchsurfing went like this:
A guy: What's lost in all this talk of "open intentions" is: girls do not usually get into situations saying "I'm looking to bang!" There needs to be... plausible deniability. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Well, my friend Jayson Heckler who drove down to Oaxaca from the States to Oaxaca with me in 2010 was the next one. Fell and injured his leg and hip. Doc said to go home and stay down. He did. ... [Continue reading this entry]

I read travel warnings and take them into consideration. They are useful if detailed, recent and taken together with other sources of information. But in my opinion they are primarily a cover-your-ass thing. They are used by tour companies ... [Continue reading this entry]

I got "home" late last night from a day trip to a "village" just off highway 304 in Chachoengsao Province about two hours east of Bangkok. This visit had several advantages.
I got to see my friends Dave and Syy again ... [Continue reading this entry]

While you are pointing fingers at our health care, consider this:
1/3 of all prescriptions by a doctor ever get filled...which means that
2/3 of all people who get prescriptions never even go to the pharmacy
Of the 1/3 of people who get ... [Continue reading this entry]

When I was hitch-hiking in Europe in 1965, I came across the bidet...couldn't figure it out. Somebody had to explain it to me. It's an extra "toilet" in the bathroom that looks like a toilet except that it has no ... [Continue reading this entry]

Yesterday an older woman from Ireland and I tried to find the Night Market at the end of the bridge over the Mekong River where you used to be able to get great BBQ meat cooked over coal fires. ... [Continue reading this entry]

Arrived in Guangzhou (pronounced guan-jo) from Hong Kong yesterday on a sleek new train. I had no idea where the baggage area was. Had paid as much for the baggage as I did my ticket! Then, as I emerged from ... [Continue reading this entry]

Or one of many other countries I have been in!
How to be a Taxi Driver in Saigon - Vietnam, Asia
By: Graham Price
www.bootsnall.com
Positions Available: Applicants Sought
Job Title: Taxi Driver
Location: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Qualifications Required: Driving license or some previous experience ... [Continue reading this entry]

May Day is coming up. An op-ed piece was printed in the Oaxaca Noticias daily newspaper criticizing the employment practices of WalMart and VIPS.
I and many expats here usually tip 20% to help make up for their ... [Continue reading this entry]

Found a hilarious travel article on Bootnall today about the luxury tax...or dual pricing for foreigners as it is called:
The Luxury Tax - Asia, Europe, South America
By: Adam Jeffries Schwartz
The following is a guide to how the luxury tax is ... [Continue reading this entry]

Never come to Northern Thailand or Lao during the dry season which is now. Slash and burn fires send smoke against the mountains and beyond. You won't see anything and the Mekong River will be down to a trickle.

Nearly as diverse as New York, sitting in a Bumrungrad waiting room is a show of national and ethnic costume...many from the middle east...burkas, jalabas and Arabic head wear...males greeting each other by touching noses...or foreheads...I couldn't tell.
The ... [Continue reading this entry]

June 10, 2004
While I was in Bangkok Bob flew to Vietnam. He wrote to say he had difficulties accessing the web today and spent most of the day traveling.
His emails:
Now in Da lat ... [Continue reading this entry]

To Bob
When I sent e-mail had not seen your messages. Your place sounds great--will spend a couple more days here before moving on--would like to access your place. gonna run back to ... [Continue reading this entry]

My medications, that had gotten held up in Custums in Frankfurt, finally arrived in Berlin via fedex. We had planned on taking the train through Austria and Hungary but now we are ... [Continue reading this entry]

The Chinese have incredible confidence in themselves...and consider themselves unquestionably the most superior people in the world...mostly due to their long history. We Westerners are the barbarians. (So we don't need to think we are "all that" as my ... [Continue reading this entry]

Beach Boy Answer to Poverty
Beach Boys are a pain in the arse. They don't want to work because they can get more money wearing flip-flops. smoking hash and hustling tourists, the smart young ... [Continue reading this entry]

All we have to offer regarding Egypt are images.Very little understanding. We were open; wanted to understand, feeling generous and happy. Smiling. Saying hello to everyone. Thinking we were making friends...now we have only flashes of ambiguous feeling...
When Americans ... [Continue reading this entry]

On April 21, 2002 while waiting for our flight from Athens to Cairo, we visited briefly with a gentleman sitting next to us who was on his way to Alexandria for what we thought ... [Continue reading this entry]

Train Trip to Nafplion
The next morning we walked to Syntagma Plaza to took the metro to the port at Piraeus for departure to some of the Greek islands by ferry. But we had just ... [Continue reading this entry]

When Bob went to the train station in London to buy a train ticket through the chunnel to France, they did not bother to tell him that if he had a Eurostar ticket for travel through Europe his chunnel ticket ... [Continue reading this entry]

After two years on a waiting list my husband and I were finally able to spend 18 days paddle rafting the Grand Canyon...putting in above Flagstaff Arizona. We went with a company called "Azra"...not a cadillac company...but with knowledgeable ... [Continue reading this entry]

The summer of 1965, the summer I turned 21, a friend and former roommate, Barbara Stamper and I arranged to meet in London in June. She, a teacher, found an economical route to New York going by train across ... [Continue reading this entry]